Make that 65,485 if I include all my collaborators. Get to work, people! :-)

Private User

21.4.2010, kell 1:03 PM

"I've already added my name, but wanted to say "Thanks" for coming up with this! Maybe with this I can get rid of some of the 14,000+ "merge issues" I have! I'm very new to this, but have become very frustrated with trying to deal with that list! Darlene"

Darlene: That list will grow... not shrink.
What you are seeing is the list of merges *ALL* of your collaborators and you have.

In other words... I have 2200+ merge issues of my own... when I click the "Include collaborators" checkbox in the "advanced controls" section of the merge issues list... I see 55392 merge issues.

Jason P Herbert

Private User

21.4.2010, kell 1:11 PM

"I'm not so sure if it helps to just add everyone to be your collaborator, if you don't have have over lapping trees."

It does.

As an example... I collaborate with Henn Sarv (for the purposes of this example, I'll assume that you do not, yet)... and you... if you have a merge issue with Henn Sarv that wasn't getting resolved (for whatever reason)... you could send that to me.

The greater the group in the collaboration pool... the greater the reach of said pool.

There's a possibility that, given enough time (and enough participants)... this group will have the ability to bring even the most difficult managers under control.

Not to mention the possibility of actually being able to fix more of the mess that is the big tree!

"I'm already at "6650 merge issues" up from 5000 with just the few additional requests to merge."

I don't see how this helps anything. The people who are willing to collaborate are already granting the requests. The problem is with the people who are inactive or unwilling to collaborate. Other than tracking them down and calling them on the phone to convince them to do the right thing, which I've done in a few cases, there isn't much we can do to change that situation.

Thanks Jason, I didn't know that! Does explain why so often when I try to fix something it tells me I'm not alloowed & why so many of the merges on my list don't appear to be related at all!
I just got my hands on 2 lengthy family histories, for my Mom's Pruden family & my Dad's Johnson, Parke, Corl families & will be adding a LOT of names in the next week, so I know it's really going to grow! The stuff from Dad's family includes a lot of history in addition to the geneology & is very interesting, so for those of you in those families, stay tuned!

William - it helps for people who've gone off of Geni, but who have collaborators who are still on. Or for people who have collaborators but have stopped responding to new collaboration requests.

Private User

21.4.2010, kell 1:27 PM

"I don't see how this helps anything. The people who are willing to collaborate are already granting the requests."

True.
However, the normal process of collaboration is a long, drawn out, process of identifying overlapping sections of trees and requesting, piecemeal, the permissions necessary to do the needed merging.

This is slow, and tedious, work.

The goal of this thread is to eliminate a good portion of that issue. Being able to quickly get permissions on massive sections of the big tree... can quickly alleviate a good portion of the frustration.

"The problem is with the people who are inactive or unwilling to collaborate."

Agreed... but with the collaboration pool.. you/we also get access to many of these "problem managers".

There's a large number of "problem managers" who have, at least one, collaborator. If we can get that collaborator in this "pool"... that's one more "problem manager" who's no longer a serious problem.

By fostering (what amounts to) a "I'll scratch your back, if you scratch mine" environment... a greater amount of work can be done in a shorter period of time.

I still don't get it. How does me adding my name to this list help to resurrect a user who hasn't logged into Geni for over a year? Is one of his collaborators going to go over to his house and shake him?

Private User

21.4.2010, kell 1:34 PM

"I still don't get it. How does me adding my name to this list help to resurrect a user who hasn't logged into Geni for over a year? Is one of his collaborators going to go over to his house and shake him?"

LOL... no. Collaborators have merge access on any deceased public profile.
This means that, even though the 'problem manager' isn't around... his/her merge issues can still be resolved.

I may add a "family group" version of this thread at a later date... if there is enough interest.

OK, but....
Let's say I have a "problem manager" identified. (I have hundreds) I have, of course, already sent many collaboration requests and received no responses. Am I supposed to come to this thread to find that person's name following an @ sign? The odds are overwhelming that I will not find a match. Then what?

Private User

21.4.2010, kell 1:46 PM

"Let's say I have a "problem manager" identified. (I have hundreds) I have, of course, already sent many collaboration requests and received no responses. Am I supposed to come to this thread to find that person's name following an @ sign? The odds are overwhelming that I will not find a match. Then what?"

No... you add your name to this thread to increase the chance that you and said "problem manager" have a common collaborator.

Geni recently changed the "request to merge" feature. If you click on the "request to merge button" on a profile you wish to merge... the place where the manager's name is listed is now a drop down box.

The box lists common collaborators (ie., someone who can merge said profile... when you cannot).

This will not solve every problem... nor is it intended to, but the problems it will solve will make geni a more pleasant experience.

Why not just send a collaboration request to everybody in the pull-down list?
With hundreds of thousands of family names, I think that might be more effective than wishing for an obscure random match in a collaboration pool.

Private User

21.4.2010, kell 2:11 PM

Well, most of you already have me, Private User, in your collaborator list, and really don't want to get more merge request, - I already get around 90 emails per day after the new common collaborator rule was introduced, in addition to everyone who ask for help.

Get your own collaborators is what I want to answer sometimes, and this might be an initiative for that.

Anyhow: I am currently managing 118,194 profiles, having 2822 personal merge issues (most of them inherited) and 110,936 merge issues if I include collaborators.

At the moment I have 1293 collaborators, - who will be the lucky person who become number 1300?

Private User

21.4.2010, kell 2:18 PM

"Why not just send a collaboration request to everybody in the pull-down list?
With hundreds of thousands of family names, I think that might be more effective than wishing for an obscure random match in a collaboration pool."

The more collaborators you have... the greater the chance you'll have a match *IN* the pull down list.

I fully realize that this is not a catch-all... but increasing the odds is a good goal (in my opinion).

"Get your own collaborators is what I want to answer sometimes, and this might be an initiative for that."

"My understanding of public discussions threads is that they are initially viewable by only the original poster's collaborators/family group.
However, as each person posts here, the ability to view this thread expands to each posters collaborators and family group.
Obviously this will contain alot of overlap.
Jason P Herbert"

I was wrong, folks!

It seems that the thread starter's collaborators are the only one's who can see this thread... which limits the effectiveness of this thread.

Please... email/PM a link to this thread to all of your collaborators... the more exposure this gets... the greater its effect.

Jason, I see a minor weakness in this plan. Unless explicitly stated in the collaboration request, how am I to know that the request comes from a pool member? Should I go back and read the entire list, or are you suggesting I send off a request as soon as I see a new name?

Perhaps you could periodically post a single entry with the entire list, as relevant to that moment in time. Would also make life so much easier for people who join later on.

Private User

21.4.2010, kell 3:23 PM

Private User

Private User

21.4.2010, kell 3:46 PM

"Jason, I see a minor weakness in this plan. Unless explicitly stated in the collaboration request, how am I to know that the request comes from a pool member?"

I did suggest people put "Collaboration Pool" or similar in the request... but you're right... that is a weakness of this idea.

"Perhaps you could periodically post a single entry with the entire list, as relevant to that moment in time. Would also make life so much easier for people who join later on."